Process for preparing an ester in the presence of al2o3 as catalyst



US. Cl. 260410.9 8 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A process for preparing an ester which comprises reacting a monobasic organic acid with an organic halide, which can be a primary straight or branched chain alkyl halide, a primary cyclic alkyl halide, a primary straight or branched chain olefinic halide or an aromatic halide, in the presence of A1 as catalyst.

This invention relates to a process for preparing an ester which comprises reacting a monobasic organic acid with an organic halide selected from the group consisting of primary straight and branched chain alkyl halides, primary cyclic alkyl halides, primary straight and branched chain olefinic halides and aromatic halides in the presence of a specific catalyst therefor. The esters obtained herein can be employed as solvents for paints, resins, etc.; as plasticizers for resins, rubbers, etc.; or they can be hydrolyzed with water to obtain the corresponding alcohols.

The organic acids employed herein are preferably saturated straight chain aliphatic monobasic acids having from two to 30 carbon atoms, preferably from two to 22 carbon atoms, and saturated branched chain aliphatic monobasic acids having from two to 30 carbon atoms, preferably from two to 22 carbon atoms. To react with the monobasic organic acid defined above to produce the desired ester in accordance with the process defined herein there must be employed an organic halide selected from the group consisting of primary straight and branched chain alkyl halides having from one to 30 carbon atoms, preferably from one to 22 carbon atoms, primary cyclic alkyl halides having from four to 22 carbon atoms, preferably from four to 12 carbon atoms, primary straight and branched chain olefinic halides having from three to 22 carbon atoms, preferably from six to 22 carbon atoms, and aromatic halides having from six to 30 carbon atoms, preferably from six to 22 carbon atoms. Specific examples of monobasic organic acids, primary straight and branched chain alkyl halides, primary cyclic alkyl halides, primary straight and branched chain olefinic halides and aromatic halides that can be employed herein correspond to those defined in copending application Ser. No. 333,- 624, filed Dec. 26, 1963 and assigned to the same assignee as the instant application.

The monobasic organic acid and the organic halide defined above are reacted, in accordance with the procedure of the invention defined herein, in the presence of A1 0 Patent 0 "ice as a catalyst. A1 0 is a hard solid, will retain its physical shape under vigorous reaction conditions and will not react with the monobasic organic acid employed herein. By catalyst we mean to include only those aluminum oxides of the formula defined above which by virtue of their presence in a chemical reaction affect the rate thereof, do

not react with any of the materials in the reaction zone, and are recovered practically unchanged at the end of the reaction period. The amount of A1 0 that must be employed herein can be, for example, from about one to about 100 mol percent, preferably from about five to about mol percent, relative to the organic acid employed. In the desired reaction while we prefer to employ the defined monobasic acid and the defined organic halide in approximately stoichiometric amounts, the molar proportions thereof can vary from about 10:1 to about 1:10.

In carrying out the reaction the defined reactants and the defined catalyst are merely brought together in any convenient manner. The temperature must be at least about 180 C., preferably at least about 220 C., in order to initiate and drive the reaction. In order to avoid the formation of decomposition or other undesirable products the temperature is maintained below about 400 C., preferably below about 350 C. Pressure is not critical and can be, for example, from about 0 to about 3000 pounds per square inch gauge, preferably from about 0 to about 1200 pounds per square inch gauge. Reaction time can be, for example, from about one minute to about 40 hours, preferably from about 15 minutes to about three hours.

During the course of the reaction an ester and a hydrogen halide are produced, and since the hydrogen halide is in vapor form it is easily removed from the reaction zone and can be recovered. The reaction mixture at this point comprises essentially desired ester, catalyst and in the event the reaction has not been permitted to go to completion one or both of the original reactants. Desirably the catalyst is removed from the reaction mixture in any suitable manner, for example, by filtration. In the event unreacted reactants are present in the resulting reaction mixture, the resulting mixture is desirably subjected to a temperature of about to about 250 C. and a pressure of about one millimeter of mercury to about 760 millimeters of mercury to remove overhead the unreacted reactants still present. Left behind after removal of catalyst and unreacted reactants is the desired ester.

The process described and claimed herein can further be illustrated by the following. Into a 75 milliliter test tube there was placed a mono-basic acid, an organic halide and catalyst. The test tube was sealed with a rubber stopper containing a thermometer and a twelve-inch length of 10 millimeter tubing to act as an air condenser. The contents of the test tube were heated over a Bunsen burner for a definite reaction period. At the end of the reaction the catalyst was permitted to precipitate and the liquid organic product composition was determined by gas chromatographic analysis. However, if desired, the catalyst could have been separated from the reaction product and the remainder of the reaction product could be separated comprises carrying out the reactlon 1n the presence of by distillauon. The results obtained are tabulated below A1 at a temperature of about 180 to about 400 C. in Table I. 2. The process of claim 1 wherein the amount of A1 0 TAB LE I Ester, mol percent yield Beaetion Temperature, based on alkyl Run No. Acid Mols Organic halide Mols Catalyst Mols time, minutes C. halide 0. 0202 None 30 210-228 6. 1 0. 0202 None 60 210-228 7. 2 0. 0202 None 120 210-228 10. 0 0. 0203 0. 0190 30 195-208 21. 2 0. 0203 0. 0190 00 195-213 27. 1 0. 0203 0. 0190 120 195-224 23. 7 0.0200 0. 0393 30 212-215 25. 7 0. 0200 0. 0393 60 212-223 32. 5 0. 0200 0. 0393 120 212-223 41. 0 0. 0201 0. 0595 30 195-225 37. 5 0. 0201 0. 0595 00 195-225 52. 5 0 0.0201 0.0595 120 195-225 50.7 0.0229 n-Dodeeyl bromide. 0.0330 0.0196 00 240-245 21.7 0. 0604 Secondary octyl 0.0203 0.0393 60 186-194 8. 2

bromide.

0. 0004 do 0.0203 0.0393 00 200-217 8.0 0.0633 n-Octylchlori 0.0135 None 00 219-229 5.2 0,0633 0.0135 0. 0400 60 218-222 11.0

The advantages of preparing esters by reaction of the present relative to said monobasic acid is from about one defined monobasic organic acids with the defined organic to about 100 mol percent. halides in the presence of A1 0 is apparent from a study 3. The process of claim 1 wherein the organic halide of the data in Table I. Note that in Runs Nos. 1, 2 and 3 is a primary straight chain alkyl halide. when the organic acid was reacted with n-octyl bromide 4. The process of claim 1 wherein the organic halide in the absence of a catalyst the mol percent yield of the is a primary straight chain alkyl bromide. desired ester, octyl pelargonate, was low, even though the 5. The process of claim 1 wherein the organic halide yield increased somewhat as the reaction time was inis aprimary straight chain alkyl chloride. creased. Runs Nos. 4 through 12, inclusive, show that the 6. A process for preparing an ester which comprises presence of A1 0 during the reaction increases the yield reacting pelargonic acid with II- C YI bromide in the of ester obtained, the increase becoming more pronounced presence of A1 0 at a temperature of about 180 to as the amount of A1 0 is increased. Run No. 13, wherein abuuli n-dodecyl bromide was employed, reafiirms the results A Process for Preparing an ester Which Comprises previously bt i d. R No 14 d 15 h th t reacting pelargonic acid with n-dodecyl bromide in the A1 0 however, does not function as catalyst herein when Presence of 2 3 all a temperature 0f about to the organic halide employed is a secondary alkyl halide. about Runs Nos. 16 and 17, wherein n-octyl chloride was em- '8. A process for preparing an ester which comprises ployed, again reafiirms the results previously obtained. reacting Pelargouic acid With u-bctyl chloride in the P Obviously, many modifications and variations of the 61196 of 2 3 at a temperature f ut 180 to about invention, as hereinabove set forth, can be made without departing from the spirt and scope thereof, and therefore fer nces Cited only such limitations should be imposed as are indicated Wertheim; Organic chemistry (1951) Pp. 93, 95 and in the appended claims. 484

We claim:

1. In the process wherein a monobasic aliphatic car- LORRAINE A. WEINBERGER, Primary Examiner boxylic organic acid having from 2 to 30 carbon atoms E J GL I is reacted with an alkyl halide having from 1 to 30 carbon E Asslstant Examiner atoms to obtain an ester corresponding to said monobasic Us CL X organic acid and hydrogen halide, the improvement which 260 493 

